BLE Shift 3D, NES BT, and SNES BT
Posted on March 7, 2026
Getting Things Moving Again
I’m going try and start posting regular dev log updates here covering current and upcoming projects. Things have been pretty quiet for a while, so I figured it’s time to share what’s been going on behind the scenes.
It goes without saying that 2025 ended up being a tough year. Component prices kept climbing, shipping costs went up, and the new US tariffs didn’t help either. On top of that, I moved Humble Bazooka to a new location, which meant tearing down the whole workspace and setting it up again from scratch. Between the move and everything else going on, development and restocks were basically on hold for months.
The good news is that everything is back up and running. The workshop is set up, parts are arriving again, and I’m back to working on new projects while also catching up on restocks.
Here’s what I’m currently working on.
BLE Shift 3D Update
The first project back on the bench is the BLE Shift 3D, the Bluetooth adapter for the Sega Saturn 3D Controller. I know, it’s been awhile…
This one took a longer break than I planned. During testing I discovered a bug in the original soft-latching power button circuit. It wasn’t catastrophic or a safety issue, but it was the kind of edge case that would eventually show up and annoy someone. Rather than ship something I wasn’t happy with, I paused and reworked the design until I had the time to really fix the problem.
The issue is now fully resolved and the hardware has been solid in testing. At this point I’m mostly adding polish—cleaning up firmware behavior, tightening battery life, and making sure everything feels like production ready device.
One thing I’m still deciding on is the enclosure. Right now it’s 3D printed, which works well and lets me produce small batches quickly. But I’ve been considering injection molding for a more professional look and feel.
Injection molding would push the release back quite a bit, so I’m curious: would you rather see the adapter released sooner with a high-quality 3D printed shell, or wait longer for a fully injection molded enclosure?
NES BT and SNES BT
Before the Saturn project took over my workbench again, I had already been working on a NES and SNES Bluetooth adapter based on BlueRetro.
It may not be obvious but a lot of times I end up building stuff because I want it for myself, and then I figure, why not share it with anyone else who might want one? The NES and SNES BT are two of those cases.
The NES BT will come as a two player adapter. I share a lot of my BlueRetro designs with the Jacques, the creator of BlueRetro. The Reset and Pair buttons on my initial SNES BT design were similar to my other adapters but Jacques suggested I use the original NES controller buttons. Unfortunately, those would have been way too big for the internal design of the adapter but the Game Boy Color (or Pocket) buttons are a great substitute.
The SNES BT adapter will be a single player adapter but will support multitap. In terms of design, I went polar opposite of the NES BT with a more muted look. I really wanted the design to be as close to the size of the original SNES controller connector, rather than a large adapter sticking way out of the controller port. I’m looking at you, AliExpress adapters 😀
I’m aiming to release both adapters in an initial low-volume run in a months. If they’re popular enough, I’ll continue to make them in higher volumes.
What’s Next
Alongside these projects, I’m also catching up on restocks that ran out while everything was paused during the move. A lot of that has already been in progress since the new year, so availability should start improving over the next few months.
Thanks to everyone who stuck around during the quiet period. More updates soon.
— Dave